The CSX, MBTA, Downtown Framingham Debacle

jaymac wrote:there was a move that mebbe even got to the plan stage to relocate the B&A south of town, diverting east of Concord Street with new construction and then rejoining at the west wye of the Milford Branch.

Jee-zus... I remember reading about this somedamnplace.. Now it's driving me nuts trying to remember where...

papabarn-
It coulda been in the CSX forum and mebbe even written by me. I did some searching there under "Framingham traffic," but my borderline ADHD (not sure which side I'm on) kicked in. Again, it may only be suburban legend.

jaymac wrote:papabarn-
It coulda been in the CSX forum and mebbe even written by me. I did some searching there under "Framingham traffic," but my borderline ADHD (not sure which side I'm on) kicked in. Again, it may only be suburban legend.

I recall there was discussion many years ago about moving the North Yard (near the RR station) and Nevins yard to the former GM facility in the South end of Framingham. Not sure if the GM yard is used anymore either...

JoeF

frrc wrote:

jaymac wrote:papabarn-
It coulda been in the CSX forum and mebbe even written by me. I did some searching there under "Framingham traffic," but my borderline ADHD (not sure which side I'm on) kicked in. Again, it may only be suburban legend.

I recall there was discussion many years ago about moving the North Yard (near the RR station) and Nevins yard to the former GM facility in the South end of Framingham. Not sure if the GM yard is used anymore either...

JoeF

when my train went thru Framingham last Wed (8/15) the rail leading to the old CP yard was shiny....something had recently gone down into there and back either many times over, or with a decent sized train to remove all the rust that was built up from the last time I had been over there

frrc wrote:I recall there was discussion many years ago about moving the North Yard (near the RR station) and Nevins yard to the former GM facility in the South end of Framingham. Not sure if the GM yard is used anymore either...

I don't believe Adessa is using rail . I know the CSX (fmr. Conrail) Auto yard was being offered for lease up until at least last month and I presume still is. I think CSX is still using the CP yard for car storage though. Opreative words: think, believe, presume. As always, your mileage may vary. No warranty is either expressed or implied.

The only way this will be fixed is the lack of freights heading east towards Boston once beacon park closes and everything heads to Worcester.

Would not surprise me to see CSX move out of Framingham in the future and fall back to Worcester / Westboro, and the produce freights taken over by PanAm.

JoeF

MBTA F40PH-2C 1050 wrote:

frrc wrote:

jaymac wrote:papabarn-
It coulda been in the CSX forum and mebbe even written by me. I did some searching there under "Framingham traffic," but my borderline ADHD (not sure which side I'm on) kicked in. Again, it may only be suburban legend.

I recall there was discussion many years ago about moving the North Yard (near the RR station) and Nevins yard to the former GM facility in the South end of Framingham. Not sure if the GM yard is used anymore either...

JoeF

when my train went thru Framingham last Wed (8/15) the rail leading to the old CP yard was shiny....something had recently gone down into there and back either many times over, or with a decent sized train to remove all the rust that was built up from the last time I had been over there

CP's still used for extra storage. If Nevins and North are over-full or there are a lot of empties hanging around they'll stuff a bunch of cars down there. Irregular moves because it's dependent on volume in the other yards at a given time. I would imagine with the Beacon Park pull-out now a week away it may be getting some more concentrated use for a couple weeks during the great shuffle.


The proposal...which was kind of just an MPO PowerPoint at some local meeting...was for Framingham State U to buy and redevelop North with some campus buildings downtown, create new parkland on the shore of Farm Pond, and offer up ped access across the remaining Fitchburg Secondary mainline tracks. Presentation also trumped up building on the empty space on the wye, but the college wasn't interested in that space and it would've required ripping out the east leg of the wye. Any purchase from CSX would've been contingent on North ops being relocated to CP, and reopening the ex-NH yard lead (http://goo.gl/maps/DnyHt) to CP from the Framingham Secondary.

But that was it...just a PPT presentation. If the subject's been breached with CSX it was casual-only, and a couple years ago. I don't think Framingham State's in a buy mode today with its budget. For what it's worth, North is the most valuable real estate of the 3 yards so CSX would no-doubt sell if it's got a sell-high opportunity. The college having a presence downtown would be pretty good as an anchor for driving development. And CP about as large as Nevins and North combined, so if CSX wanted max flexibility to either expand or--if it trends that way--contract Nevins into a single facility...this is the one that holds the flex. BUT...there'd have to be some understanding reached about use of grade crossings because no ifs, ands, or buts...more trains are going to be crossing 126 and 135--on one side or another--if CP displaces North. That doesn't necessarily have to be a bad thing if they reopen that lead to the Framingham Sec. and stage moves to Boston or Middleboro from there. I think they could even consolidate the crossings by whacking the 3 crossings on the existing CP/Milford Branch lead, do the passing track behind the station, have quad gates at 126 and the Framingham Sec. so trains can cross in a fraction of the time, and practice some nimble off-peak scheduling. But there's probably nothing that'll make the town happy because it wants no trains anywhere ever. It doesn't matter if the crossings are upgraded so the trains don't tie them up for as long, or if CSX isn't crossing 135 at height of rush hour to go to Middleboro anymore because it'll be staging to the south. None...anywhere...ever. They're incapable of agreeing to any mitigation that *may* in practice be a little better than it is today...because it still involves a train going through a grade crossing on those two roads.